[NHCOLL-L:3443] RE: Encyclopedia of Life Announced

Thu May 10 18:10:14 EDT 2007

Dear colleagues,

I would like to know how many projects of a similar type been launched in
the past and what happened to them.
I remember Tree of life.
                  Species 2000
And even uBios who just tried to gather all generic names?

Is this project different? Who funded this new project? Why are they trying
to start the same project again and again? Why not finish an old one?

Regards
Vratislav
www.coleoptera.org

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu]
On Behalf Of Roberta Faul-Zeitler
Sent: Friday, 11 May 2007 12:54 AM
To: NHCOLL
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:3439] Encyclopedia of Life Announced

May 10, 2007

>From Bobbie Faul-Zeitler, Green News Update. Some news to cheer about --

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE ANNOUNCED TODAY

[Press release from the MacArthur Foundation]. 

A Leap for All Life: World's Leading Scientists  Announce Creation of
"Encyclopedia of Life" 

Biodiversity, Science Communities Unite Behind Epic Effort to Promote
Biodiversity, Document All 1.8 Million Named Species on Planet 

WASHINGTON (May 9, 2007) - Many of the world's leading scientific
institutions today announced the launch of the Encyclopedia of Life, an
unprecedented global effort to document all 1.8 million named species of
animals, plants, and other forms of life on Earth. For the first time in the
history of the planet, scientists, students, and citizens would have
multi-media access to all known living species, even those that have just
been discovered.

The Field Museum, Harvard University, Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods
Hole), Smithsonian Institution, and Biodiversity Heritage Library joined
together to initiate the project, bringing together species and software
experts from across the world. The Missouri Botanical Garden has become a
full partner, and discussions are taking place this week with leaders of the
new Atlas of 
Living Australia. The Encyclopedia today also announced the initial
membership of its Institutional Council, which spans the globe, and whose
members will play key roles in realizing this immense project. An
international advisory board of distinguished individuals will also help
guide the Encyclopedia. 

The effort is spurred by a $10 million grant from the John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation and $2.5 million from the Alfred P. Sloan
Foundation, and will ultimately serve as a global beacon for biodiversity
and conservation. 

"The Encyclopedia of Life will provide valuable biodiversity and
conservation information to anyone, anywhere, at any time," said Dr. James
Edwards, currently Executive Secretary of the Global Biodiversity
Information Facility who today was officially named Executive Director of
the Encyclopedia of Life. "Through collaboration, we all can increase our
appreciation of the immense 
variety of life, the challenges to it, and ways to conserve biodiversity.
The Encyclopedia of Life will ultimately make high-quality, well-organized
information available on an unprecedented level. Even five years ago, we
could not create such a resource, but advances in technology for searching,
annotating, and visualizing information now permit us, indeed mandate us to
build the Encyclopedia 
of Life." 

Over the next 10 years, the Encyclopedia of Life will create Internet pages
for all 1.8 million species currently named. It will expedite the
classification of the millions of species yet to be discovered and
catalogued as well. The pages, housed at www.eol.org, will provide written
information and, when available, photographs, video, sound, location maps,
and other multimedia information on each 
species. Built on the scientific integrity of thousands of experts around
the globe, the Encyclopedia will be a moderated wiki-style environment,
freely available to all users everywhere. 

"The Encyclopedia of Life will be a vital tool for scientists, researchers,
and educators across the globe, providing easy access to the latest and best
information on all known species," said Jonathan F. Fanton, President of the
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. "Technology is allowing
science to grasp the immense complexity of life on this planet. Sharing what
we know, we 
can protect Earth's biodiversity and better conserve our natural heritage." 

"For more than 250 years, scientists have catalogued life, and our
traditional catalogues have become unwieldy," said Ralph E. Gomory,
President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. "The Encyclopedia of Life will
provide the citizens of the world a 'macroscope' of almost unimaginable
power to find and create understanding of biodiversity across the globe. It
will enable us to map and discover 
things so numerous or vast they overwhelm our normal vision." 

Scientists began creating individual web pages for species in the 1990s.
However, Internet technology needed to mature to allow fast and efficient
creation of a comprehensive Encyclopedia. While specific Encyclopedia of
Life efforts, including the scanning of key research publications and data,
have been underway since January 2006, work has accelerated due to the
support provided by 
the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the recent discussion
of the Encyclopedia of Life by renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson at the
March 2007 Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Conference. 

One of the world's foremost scientists and environmentalists, Wilson,
professor emeritus at Harvard University, "wished" for the establishment of
the Encyclopedia of Life during his TED Conference address. Noting that "our
knowledge of biodiversity is so incomplete that we are at risk of losing a
great deal of it before it is ever discovered," Wilson called for a
contemporary, dynamic portrait of the living Earth. 

"I wish that we will work together to help create the key tool that we need
to inspire preservation of Earth's biodiversity: the Encyclopedia of Life,"
Wilson said at TED. "What excites me is that since I first put forward this
idea, science has advanced, technology has moved forward. Today, the
practicalities of making this encyclopedia real are within reach as never
before." 
Ultimately, the Encyclopedia of Life will provide users the opportunity to
personalize the learning experience through its "my eol" feature. The site
can be made available in all major languages andwill connect scientific
communities concerned with ants to apples to zebras. As part of its work,
the Encyclopedia of Life will collaborate and partner with a wide range of
organizations, individuals, and experts to help strengthen the Encyclopedia
and its impact on communities throughout the world. 

"The solidarity of the U.S. and global communities for the Encyclopedia of
Life is tremendously exciting and lifts my confidence that this vast,
romantic global effort will succeed," Edwards said. "We are also encouraged
by the declaration in March 2007 by the environment ministers of the G8
nations to foster a global species information system." 

While initial work will emphasize species of animals, plants, and fungi, the
design can be extended to 
encompass microbial life. 

To provide depth behind the portal page for each species, the Biodiversity
Heritage Library (BHL), a consortium that holds most of the relevant
scientific literature, will scan and digitize tens of millions of pages of
the scientific literature that will offer open access to detailed knowledge.
In fact, the BHL now has scanning centers operating in London, Boston, and
Washington DC, and has scanned 
the first 1.25 million pages for the Encyclopedia. 

"I dream that in a few years wherever a reference to a species occurs on the
Internet, there will be a hyperlink to its page in the Encyclopedia of
Life," concluded Edwards. 

ABOUT THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE 
The Encyclopedia of Life is a collaborative scientific effort led by the
Field Museum, Harvard University, Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole),
Missouri Botanical Garden, Smithsonian Institution, and Biodiversity
Heritage Library, a consortium including the core institutions and also the
American Museum of Natural History (New York), Natural History Museum
(London), New 
York Botanical Garden, and Royal Botanic Garden (Kew). Ultimately, the
Encyclopedia of Life will provide an online database for all 1.8 million
species now known to live on Earth. When completed, [EOL]will serve as a
global biodiversity tool, providing scientists, policymakers, students, and
citizens information they need to discover and protect the planet and
encourage learning and 
conservation.  (END)

To go to the Encyclopedia of Life:

http://www.eol.org

*********************************

Bobbie Faul-Zeitler
Editor/Publisher "Green News Update"
Silver Spring MD 20910
(301) 565-0965
Email: faulzeitler at starpower.net